Godey's Lady's Book

Sarah J. Hale: Editor's Table

The following are all the excerpts related to Thanksgiving from 1860,
1859, 1858, 1857, and October 1855. (missing the volume for 1856)

September 1860, p. 271

THANKSGIVING--the new National Holiday.--We must advert once more
to this grand object of nationalizing Thanksgiving Day, by adopting, as a
permanent rule, the last Thursday in November in all the States. Last
year, 1859, thirty States and three Territories held Thanksgiving
on the same day--the last Thursday in November. This year we hope that every
State and Territory will be included in the list. Last year this Thanksgiving
was observed by the American residents in Paris, Berlin, and Berne; in the
last two cities the American ministers to Switzerland and Prussia took the
leading part in the festivities. Thanksgiving was also held on board two
of the American squadrons, that of the Mediterranean and the African; and,
moreover, several of the American missionary establishments in foreign lands
have signified their willingness to set apart the day named.

This year the last Thursday in November falls on the 29th. If
all the States and Territories hold their Thanksgiving on that day, there
will be a complete moral and social reunion of the people of America
in 1860. Would not this be a good omen for the perpetual political union
of the States? May God grant us not only the omen, but the fulfillment is
our dearest wish!

November, 1859, p. 466

OUR THANKSGIVING UNION. --The last Thursday in November--will it not be
a great day in our Republic? Seventy years ago the political union of the
United States was consummated; in 1789, the thirteen individual States, then
forming the American Confederacy, became, by the ratification of the Constitution,
over the forming of which Washington himself presided, the United American
Nation. The flag of our country now numbers thirty-two stars on its crown
of blue, and some half dozen or more additional starlets are shining out
of the depths of our wilderness continent, soon to be added to our system
of independent and united Government of the People. God save the United States!
He has saved, enlarged, blessed, and prospered us beyond any people on this
globe. Should we not be thankful, and keep high holiday of gratitude and
gladness in acknowledgment of these national blessings ? Seventy years ago,
there were only about three millions of people under our flag; now it waves
its protecting folds from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and nearly thirty
millions of souls are enjoying its blessings. If every State should join
in union thanksgiving on the 24th of this month, would it not be a renewed
pledge of love and loyalty to the Constitution of the United States, which
guarantees peace, prosperity, progress, and perpetuity to our great Republic?

Letter to the Editress of the Lady's Book.

DEAR MADAM: Your admirable suggestions in relation to the simultaneous
observance of Thanksgiving Day over the whole Union have, before this, made
a deep, and, let us trust, an abiding impression in the most influential
and desirable quarters. At the risk of repeating your own ideas, let me express
some thoughts which naturally occur to me in this connection. The Union of
these States is not consummated by appeals to national loyalty, nor to that
national pride expressed in our motto, that union is strength. In short,
all theoretical and abstract appeals to the Union are without root, and consequently
without fruit. What makes the Union more than a mere word for poets or politicians,
what makes it a blessing to be prayed for and preserved at any hazard, is
quite on other grounds than pride. An angry man hesitates to get his house
on fire, because in every room is one of his own sleeping children. In these
United States are scattered broadcast, growing up side by side with the natural
productions, or else grafted on the ancient trees, the universal Yankee nation.
Peddling his nutmegs and tinware, or presiding with energy and dignity over
a seminary for education, inventing the most wonderful machinery for the
most common purposes, or infusing into a languid and inert population some
of the superfluous breezy activity of his own arid and mountainous districts,
everywhere meddling, making, contriving, but everywhere inspiriting and improving,
is the Yankee. He is one of the elder children of the household, and, as
such, assumes a supe-riority in many matters, but ill borne out by his manners.
Be this as it may, wherever he wanders he weaves his web of prosperous industry;
the land is better for him. He brings home to his native hills the sweet
southern flower, or he stays amidst southern gardens to water and refresh
them by a patent irrigator. Family ties increase and are strengthened. The
youth of farthest Maine writes love-messages on the magnolia glandiflora
leaf to the pale Floridian; the rosy belles of Massachusetts link hands and
hearts with the elegant and languid Carolinians. In every chamber there is
a child of the house.

Now, next to ties of blood and kindred come language and national observances.
We are already spread and mingled over the Union. Each year, by bringing
us oftener together, releases us from the estrangement and coolness consequent
on distance and political alienations; each year multiplies our ties of relationship
and friendship. How can we hate our Mississippi brother-in-law? and who is
a better fellow than our wife's uncle from St. Louis ? If Maine itself be
a great way off, and almost nowhere, on the contrary, a dozen splendid fellows
hail from Kennebec County, and your wife is a down-Easter. Now, when the
Autumn sheaves are bound up, when the harvest moon bends smilingly above
us, when Nature, having finished her annual work, throws herself wearily
down, tossing from her lap abundance, and saying, not in words, but deeds,
"Be thankful to the Giver!"—then, in every true American heart, wherever
beating, comes the thought of the family gathering, kindred smiles, or tearful
memories. Wherever we may be, it is a good and pleasant thing to feel that
we look at the same stars, pray to the same God, and hold high festival of
gratitude at the same hours throughout the broad land that He has so blessed!

November 1858, p. 463

OUR NATIONAL THANKSGIVING.

"All the blessings of the fields,
All the stores the garden yields,
All the plenty summer pours,
Autumn's rich, o'erflowing stores,
Peace, prosperity, and health,
Private bliss and public wealth,
Knowledge with its gladdening streams,
Pure religion's holier beams--
Lord, for these our souls shall raise
Grateful vows and solemn praise."

We are most happy to agree with the large majority of the governors of
the different States--as shown in their unanimity of action for several past
years, and which, we hope, will this year be adopted by all--that the LAST
THURSDAY IN NOVEMBER shall be the DAY OF NATIONAL THANKSGIVING for the American
people. Let this day, from this time forth, as long as our Banner of Stars
floats on the breeze, be the grand THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY of our nation, when
the noise and tumult of worldliness may be exchanged for the laugh of happy
children, the glad greetings of family reunion, and the humble gratitude
of the Christian heart. This truly American Festival falls, this year, on
the twenty-fifth day of this month.

Consecrate the day to benevolence of action, by sending good gifts to
the poor, and doing those deeds of charity that will, for one day, make every
American home the place of plenty and rejoicing. These seasons of refreshing
are of inestimable advantage to the popular heart; and, if rightly managed,
will greatly aid and strengthen public harmony of feeling. Let the people
of all the States and Territories sit down together to the "feast of fat
things" and drink, in the sweet draught of joy and gratitude to the Divine
giver of all our blessings, the pledge of renewed love to the Union, and
to each other; and of peace and good-will to all men. Then the last Thursday
in November will soon become the day of AMERICAN THANKSGIVING throughout
the world.

October 1858, p. 371

THANKSGIVING DAY.--The last Thursday in November falls, this year, on the
twenty-fifth. May we not hope that our nation will unite, on this
day, in keeping the festival? The Governors of the States and Territories
might, by uniting on this day, make the year memorable in our annals to the
end of time. Will not the editors of newspapers lead the way in this union
of hearts, at our national festival? Then the last Thursday in November
would soon come to be considered the American's Thanksgiving Day, and wherever
our countrymen dwelt the day would be a festival.

November 1857, p. 466

THE NATIONAL THANKSGIVING

"Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet,
and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is
holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your
strength."--NEHEMIAH viii. 10.

Such was the order given to the people of Israel for the celebration
of their National and Religious Festival, the "Feast of Weeks." We
learn from this that a day of yearly rejoicing and giving of gifts was not
only sanctioned but enjoined, by Divine authority, on God's chosen people.
Such yearly festival is not positively enjoined on Christians; but that it
is both expedient and beneficial may be safely urged, when we find that the
practice was approved by our God and Father in heaven. We have, for many
past years, urged the advantages of having a day set apart by the civil authorities
of each State, which every heart in our wide land may welcome as the time
of joy and thankfulness for the American people.

Our Day of Thanksgiving represents, in many striking coincidences, the
Jewish Feast of Weeks; only make our day national, and we should then represent
the union of joy that was the grand proof of the Divine blessing.

Such social rejoicings tend greatly to expand the generous feelings of
our nature, and strengthen the bond of union that binds us brothers and sisters
in that true sympathy of American patriotism which makes the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans mingle in our minds as waters that wash the shores of kindred
homes, and mark, from east to west, the boundaries of our dominion.

The Creator has so constituted the race of mankind that their minds need
a moderate portion of amusement as imperatively as the body at times wants
stimulating food. The recreative joyousness, the return, if you please, to
the gayeties of childhood, is good for the soul. It sweetens the temper,
it brightens hope; it increases our love for each other, and our faith in
the goodness of God. There are individuals and nations who, from an unhappy
state of things, vice in themselves or in other persons, from poverty, or
political oppression, never "drink the sweet, nor eat the fat," but drag
on a starved and miserable existence. These are not, physically, true specimens
of the human being; want is written on the sunken cheek, and wasting despondency
cripples the feeble limbs.

Even thus the mental starvation from all the sweet joys of social intercourse
and innocent merry-making, has a wasting and deforming effect upon human
character, similar to bad or insufficient diet on the bodily constitution.
God intended that all our faculties should, in the right way, be exercised;
and neglect of such exercise changes us to incomplete creatures. One has
but a lame existence who has lost or neglected to cultivate "the store that
nature to her votary yields." Our busy, wealth seeking people require to
have days of national festivity, when the fashion and the custom will call
them to the feast of love and thanksgiving.

So we agree with the large majority of the governors of different States,
that THE LAST THURSDAY IN NOVEMBER should be the DAY OF NATIONAL THANKSGIVING
for the American people. Let this day, from this time forth, as long as our
Banner of Stars floats on the breeze, be the grand THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY of
our nation, when the noise and tumult of worldliness may be exchanged for
the laugh of happy children, the glad greetings of family reunion, and the
humble gratitude of the Christian heart.

Consecrate the day to benevolence of action, by sending good gifts to
the poor, and doing those deeds of charity that will, for one day, make every
American home the place of plenty and rejoicing. These seasons of refreshing
are of inestimable advantage to the popular heart; and, if rightly managed,
will greatly aid and strengthen public harmony of feeling. Let the people
of all the States and Territories set down together to the "feast of fat
things" and drink, in the sweet draught of joy and gratitude to the Divine
giver of all our blessings, the pledge of renewed love to the Union, and
to each other; and of peace and good-will to all the world. Then the last
Thursday in November will soon become the day of AMERICAN THANKSGIVING
throughout the world.

October 1857, pp. 371-372

THANKSGIVING DAY.--We hope the Governors will unite on November 26th, the
last Thursday in the month. Then the war of politics will be over for the
year; and all elections, State and National, will be closed, the harvests
of the country gathered in, the preparation for winter made; and the crowning
glory of all the blessings God has, during the year, bestowed on out great
nation, would be the union of all our States and Territories in a day
of National Thanksgiving. The peoples of the Old World would thus be taught
that freedom from man's tyranny brings us nearer to God--that, while rejecting
earthly lords, we willingly acknowledge our dependence on the Lord of heaven
and earth. The celebration of the Fourth of July has a marked effect on out
national character. The American citizen dwelling in foreign countries feels
the influence of observing that day. It gives him an increase of honor among
the millions who are pining in vain for such high privileges as his national
birthright bestows; and he is proud of the title, "American citizen."

The Day of Thanksgiving would, if observed nationally, soon be celebrated
in every part of the world where an American family was settled. If the
last Thursday in November could be established as the Day, and known
to be the time in each year when, from Maine to New Mexico, and from Plymouth
Rock to the Pacific sands, the great American people united in this festival
of gladness and gratitude, the whole world might be moved to join in the
rejoicing, and bless God for his goodness to the children of men.

Last year, nearly all States and Territories united on that day. This
year, we trust, there will be no blank in this number, nor a seat left vacant
at the Table of the Nation.

THANKSGIVING.

BY LILLIAN.

God of the rolling year's returning harvest,
A tribute to thy boundless love we bring,
Without whose gracious gifts the spirit starveth,
And hope falls lifeless from its loftiest wing.
Thy rainbow-pledge, in living colors painted
On the cloud-shadowed arch of summer skies,
Thou hast again redeemed; and, ere we fainted,
The year's life-boon was laid before our eyes.

With grateful hearts we praise thee for it, Father;
Into thy presence with thanksgiving come;
And, as around thine alter we shall gather,
Smile on us from thine everlasting home!
We thank thee for the south wind's breath of gladness,
The genial sunshine of the spring's young hours,
That lifted winter's melancholy sadness
From off the ice-embosomed tomb of flowers.

We thank thee for the morning smile of glory
That spoke thy presence in fresh budding life,
Where silver frost-work made the young year hoary
With jewelled trophies of the cold winter's strife;
That then the flower-enamelled verdure, wooing,
With fragrance, brightness for the waiting lands,
Invited blessings with its glad renewing--
The good seed dropped from labor's willing hands.

We thank thee that, through days of summer blessings,
Nature's glad angels watched the springing shoot,
And, with the sun and dew of their caressings,
Nursed the bright blossoms into golden fruit;
And when the varying hues of autumn beauties
Reflected back the glow of crimson skies,
Thou gavest them as recompense for duties
Most nobly done through toil's self-sacrifice.

All the blest gifts of earth and skies, returning
With each succeeding year, are gifts of thine,
The incense of thy love forever burning
On nature's living, heaven-encircled shrine.
And while, for these tokens of thy favor,
These harvest bounties, heartfelt thanks are given,
May life's pure incense, like sweet smelling savor,
In the world's harvest, wing our souls to heaven.

October 1855, p. 373

THANKSGIVING DAY.--When shall it be? The last Thursday in November falls
on the 29th. We petition each and all the State governors to appoint that
day for our national rejoicing. Then all the land will be glad together, and
union among the people would be a sure pledge of heart-thankfulness to God,
who has given to us, as a nation, such wonderful prosperity, such universal
blessings.

The readers and friends of the "Lady's Book," that is, a large majority
of the people of these United States, agree in our petition. Let us have
a national day of Thanksgiving on Thursday, the 19th of November.